Kaida’s legs wobbled like they were made of jelly.
His arms felt like noodles dipped in cement.
He collapsed to his knees, gasping for air, sweat dripping from every pore. His weighted cuffs—each a punishing thirty pounds—dragged his limbs closer to the earth with every breath.
And yet, Temu was already pacing in front of them, her boots clacking sharply against the stone path.
“No lying down,” she barked, not even looking at them. “You think enemies are gonna let you rest? Run harder next time.”
Kaida didn’t even have the strength to groan.
Beside him, Seraphina had collapsed into a dramatic heap, one leg draped over the other like she was performing her own funeral.
Lorien looked halfway to vomiting.
Only Alric remained upright—barely. His chest heaved, sweat gleamed on his brow, but he still stood tall, his grin unwavering.
Temu finally stopped walking and turned toward them.
“Break’s over.”
Lorien let out a tiny whimper.
Kaida let out a full-body groan.
“Up.”
They didn’t move fast enough.
“UP!”
Everyone scrambled to their feet—some more pitifully than others.
Temu clapped once. “Good. Now we train.”
Kaida blinked. “Wait… what were we doing before?”
“That was just the warm-up.”
A chorus of suffering erupted from the team.
Kaida’s eye twitched.
First day of hell, indeed.
254Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk6wF40I2Z1
What followed was a blur.
Push-ups with weights still on.
Lunges across the training grounds.
Sprints with sacks of sand strapped to their backs.
Balance exercises across narrow beams, during which Seraphina almost cartwheeled off twice just to see what Temu would say.
The answer to that was a thrown stick that nearly took her head off.
Temu didn’t miss anything.
Not bad posture.
Not wandering eyes.
Not even the quick moment Kaida muttered a curse under his breath.
“What was that, runt?”
“N-Nothing, ma’am!”
“Thought so.”
Alric, to his credit, tried to keep spirits high. “Come on, team! Just imagine how ripped we’ll be in a few weeks!”
Kaida, flat on his back doing crunches, barely managed, “I’m already imagining my funeral…”
Still, through the exhaustion and chaos, something began to happen.
Kaida felt it—just barely—a tiny flicker of heat in his chest. A kind of pressure, not physical, but pulsing… internal. Something new. Or maybe something that had always been there… just buried.
254Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfoWY05VMAq
Temu clapped again.
“Alright. That’s enough for now.”
Everyone sagged like collapsing tents.
Kaida nearly kissed the ground.
Temu stood at the center, arms crossed. “Now that your bodies are awake, we’ll move on to something even more important: mana.”
Lorien perked up immediately.
Kaida, still sprawled on the grass, raised a tired hand. “Can I pass on this one…?”
“No.”
She knelt and with one fluid motion, dragged him to a seated position by the front of his tunic.
“Pay attention. This will save your life.”
He sat up straighter, gulping.
Temu stood tall and raised her hand. With a subtle flick, a semi-transparent screen appeared before her—hovering in the air like a digital HUD. The others watched with mild curiosity, but Kaida’s eyes narrowed with recognition.
He knew that screen.
In fact…
With a slow breath, Kaida raised his own hand, fingers spread slightly apart—and focused.
Come on… it’s like a thought, not a motion… he remembered.
And then—
DING.
A small, glowing screen bloomed before him. Light-blue lines etched data into the air:
Name: Kaida Tatsuya
Race: Human
Element: Wind
Level: 1
Class: Samurai
Skill Tree: Unavailable
Inventory: (2 Items)
Stats: [Tap to Expand]
Temu turned her head slowly.
Her ears twitched.
“You…” she muttered. “You already figured it out?”
Kaida gave a nervous shrug. “I couldn’t sleep last night.”
Temu raised an eyebrow. Her tone was less hostile now—almost impressed. “Hmph. At least you’re not completely useless.”
Lorien blinked. “Wait, you can just open it with your mind?”
“More or less,” Temu said, turning to the group. “It’s a metaphysical interface. You’ll need it to track progress, equipment, skills, and other system-linked features. Most summoned don’t activate it so easily. It usually takes… a few days.”
Kaida scratched the back of his neck.
Guess all that poking around last night paid off.
Temu gestured toward her own screen. “From here, you’ll eventually access your Skill Tree, assign techniques, track inventory, and monitor your mana pool. Right now, most of it is locked to you—until you understand the foundation.”
She closed the screen with a snap of her fingers.
“The first step to any technique, any spell, or any elemental release… is activation.”
She walked a few paces and knelt down, placing one hand on the ground.
Her eyes narrowed.
“Mana is not energy you create. It’s energy you channel. Through focus. Emotion. Breath. And intent.”
Kaida furrowed his brow. “So it’s… like meditation?”
Temu stood. “No. Meditation is a passive state. This is active.”
She raised her hand. A pulse of violet energy surged across her palm.
“Breathe in. Focus inward. Find that heat in your chest—that pressure.”
Kaida blinked.
He had felt that earlier…
Temu continued. “That’s your core. Every living thing has one. But only a few know how to use it.”
Kaida closed his eyes. Tried to listen.
His breath slowed.
Heartbeat thudding softly.
He thought about that flicker… that sensation during the run. His body aching, but something inside him pushing him forward.
He reached for it.
But the harder he tried to grab it, the more it slipped away.
“Don’t force it,” Temu said, watching him. “It’s not about trying. It’s about allowing.”
Kaida exhaled slowly…
Then—
Fwoosh.
A faint gust of wind ruffled his hair.
His eyes flew open.
A thin ring of air shimmered around his hands—barely visible, like heat waves rising from pavement.
Temu’s ears twitched again.
“Well well…”
Lorien gasped. “He actually—!”
Kaida stared at his hands in disbelief. “I… I did it?”
“It’s unstable,” Temu said bluntly. “But yes. That was mana activation.”
Kaida grinned.
Only to immediately fall backward and hit the ground with a thud.
“Too much excitement,” he muttered.
Seraphina laughed and offered a hand. “Congrats, Spark Boy.”
He took it, still grinning despite himself.
Temu turned back to the group. “Get used to that feeling. Learn to summon it at will. Until then, you’re not even walking the path yet.”
Kaida looked down at his hands again—now normal. No shimmer. No wind.
But something had changed.
He could feel it.
A spark.
Waiting.
ns216.73.216.82da2
